Sun City hosts regional round of 'chess on grass'

Wednesday

May 9, 2012 at 12:25 AM

Gwyneth J. Saunders

The action on the courts may seem slow but what goes on in the heads of the croquet players must resemble a supercomputer.

"The appeal is it's chess on grass," said Henry Vaughan, president of the Sun City Croquet Club. "You get both exercise and mental stimulation. You can walk almost 2 1/2 miles during a match. And you're always thinking ahead."

This is not your grandmother's lawn croquet of wooden balls, mallets and iron rings for wickets. This is the big time with balls valued at $75 per and custom-made mallets that range in cost from $100 to as much as $800. The wickets are heavy-duty iron frames with nearly as much of its length sinking into the ground as rising above. And they are tweaked on competition days to permit the passage of only the width of the ball plus the thickness of a quarter.

Not all of the 110 members of the Sun City Croquet Club will be competing on the community's two courts when the U.S. Croquet Association Southeast Regional Championship is held May 16-20. A number of the lower handicap players will be, though, and they are looking forward to it.

Among the sport's top players expected are Danny Huneycutt from North Carolina, the 2011 U.S. Croquet Association player of the year, a former national champion and major contributor to many United States wins in international competitions.

"He is a world-class player," said Bill Escher, whose own handicap is nothing to sneeze at. Like golf, the lower the number, the better player you are. Escher's handicap is 2; the maximum is 20.

"When you play the lower handicaps," said Vaughan, "the game comes down to how many mistakes you make."

The right equipment

The matches will be held on Sun City's two courts. Because of the precision required by the game, the courts are treated almost like outdoor billiard tables. The grass is cut to a precise length and the court itself is laser-flat.

Each game may last 75 minutes. It's not because the players take a long time to decide on their next move, said Vaughan.

"You are allowed only 45 seconds between hits," he said. "A good player can extend his turn to up to 20 minutes."

Players can use their opponent's ball to position their own for their next move and for subsequent play. It's a game of planning ahead, and where you position your ball in relation to wickets and other players' balls is how you get ahead.

"It's a game of patience," said Ken Anderson. "You wait the whole game for just the right opportunity to make your move. Sometimes it comes and sometimes it never comes. Or it comes along and you mess it up."

The mallet heads weigh nearly three pounds and are attached to carbon shafts of varying rigidity which can lessen the vibrations that come from hitting the croquet balls.

"When you play a lot, that vibration can get to you," Vaughan said.

The balls, which come in the standard colors of red, yellow, blue and black, also come in those same colors with a wide white stripe around the middle. That comes in handy when you have one court and eight players. Because of the way the wickets are arranged, two teams of four can play - one moving through the wickets clockwise and the other counterclockwise.

Vaughan said it takes two to three years for a player to become knowledgeable of all the ins and outs, the strategy, the rules. And it takes time to build up muscle strength and muscle memory with the mallets.

"You can't just come out here and start swinging," he said.

Marge Cramer has been playing 15 years and began when she lived on Dataw Island.

"I love it for the sportsmanship and the camaraderie," she said. "And the social part is excellent."

Escher admitted that the game is more fascinating playing than watching, but observers who have the benefit of a little tutoring will eventually see some of the strategy taking shape on the court.